Featured One For Dilli

Right colour and everything
Cheers Nikki but I’m not finished with NUDGER just yet
Just over 3wks to go and me and NUDGER are off to the Isle of Man for a few days with wor lass on the back
Only at work 4days when I get back then off to my first rally of the year
Ooooh it’s gonna be a good summer

 

Next bike.....maybe

 

Christ, if he had 2 bikes he'd never get any thing done at work (or at least that's work related), something for Nudger part 5, something for Rocket Ron part 1 ......

 

I think the WTF from @Ron Ashurst is because he thinks I am referring to him as I call him Rocket Ron, but knowing how Dilli likes to name his bikes I thought Rocket Ron fitted the bill for the Rocket 3!
Try and keep on the same page Ron, you're an honorary Brit now FFS!

 

A euro bike for Dilli... not sure he could cope with left hand drive???

 

Well I thought I had come up with a good defence for you awarding a WTF @Ron Ashurst, but I can clearly see by the face palm to that that I have misjudged him, he is in fact a Tw@t!

 

I love everything about the Rocket, apart from the look of that engine it just doesn't do it for me, the new Rocket is a bit better as the pipes hide more of the engine..now if they were to make a big V Twin or a V4 engine

 

Why a Triple is the better option.
Most inline 4 cylinder engines have a “flat plane” crank ie. the crank pins are in pairs, and the pistons move up and down in pairs, so you get:

1- bang/blow/suck/squish

2- blow/suck/squish/bang

3 - squish/bang/blow/suck

4- suck/squish/bang/blow

I've highlighted the bangs in the usual firing order of 1–3–4–2, so piston 2&3 move up & down together as one pair, and 1&4 move as the other pair.

The reason the 2 middle cylinders move together is simple, if the end pairs moved together, at the point the 1&2 hit the top and 3&4 hit the bottom, there is a rocking motion - the “1” end wants to move upwards, and the “4” end wants to move downwards - so this is cancelled out by having pistons 1&4 rise together against 2&3. It takes 2 revolutions of the crank to have a complete combustion cycle, so for one rotation of the crank, there is one of each stroke occurring, and always a piston providing a power stroke for the full 360 degrees of engine rotation for smooth power delivery.

The vibration in a 4 cylinder inline comes from having 2 pistons hitting the top as 2 hit the bottom - in this respect it is no smoother than a 180 degree parallel twin. A straight 6 is far superior to a 4 as it doesn't have this up/down opposing motion.

A triple is actually better than a 4 as well, having 120 degrees of crank rotation between each time a piston hits top or bottom, rather than 180 degree intervals. Where it loses is by having 60 degrees of crank rotation where there is no power stroke occurring, which makes power delivery less smooth. A triple also has a propensity to rock lengthways as cylinders 1&3 are near the opposite ends of their strokes simultaneously and with an odd number of cylinders this cannot be cancelled out.

So - swings and roundabouts on refinement. A straight 6 is a great configuration for luxury cars because it has overlapping powerstrokes (smooth) and the same superior crank angle of the 3, without the rocking. No coincidence Honda & BMW both fit flat 6 engines to their top line touring bikes.

Now think about the conventional received wisdom of the biker… singles & twins = torque, inline 4s = revs. A simplistic view but one that works OK for various reasons. Twins just don't provide ‘top end rush’ like a 4, and a 4 doesn't provide midrange oomph like a twin. There's a number of basic reasons this is the case that can be overcome to some extent, but 3 cylinders is a good compromise - hence numerous bike journos praising the midrange punch of the Triumph triples whilst noting they still have plenty of top end.

Other benefits of 3 instead of 4 cylinders include…

-lower frictional losses = more efficient

-fewer moving parts = cheaper

 

FFS 270 twins
Nowt else compares
Wake up and smell the coffee

 

Harrumph....Feckin bus drivers